I cook meat a lot. And I assume most people do too. By meat, I mean Chicken, Beef, Pork and Fish. Cooking meat to its proper temperature: one, ensures you won’t get sick and two, reliability gives you a tasty meal. But how do you know your meat is at a safe temperature but not overcooked? The answer is pretty simple, just stick a thermometer in it.
If you scour the internet and cook books you will find a lot of “tips” on how to know the done-ness of your meat without the use of a thermometer. Chicken juice is meant to run clear (how clear?), steak is to feel like the inside of your palm when you touch your thumb to your middle finger (on my fat hands or your bony hands?), pork is to be cooked like chicken (it’s not the “other white” meat) and fish is to turn firm and somewhat flaky (is that before of after I mangle it trying to unstick it from the pan?)
You also see professional chefs on video doing everything by time. Like sear steaks 5 minutes per side or bake at 425 for 45 minutes. Sure this works, if you use the same pan, oven, steak cut and thickness or chicken size every time, but things vary. Also, you don’t have their pan, oven, steak/chicken.
So just stick a probe in it and see for yourself!
We will dive into proper temperatures for steak, beef and chicken in later posts.
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How wealthy would you be if you had $5 for every time I asked if something was cooked?